Legislators were sent an invite which read, “Please join us in supporting Connecticut’s sportsmen and sample game from across the state.”

The animals killed to feed reception attendees could include deer, duck, bear and rabbit, among many other species.

Representative Michel, who is the Democratic House Chair for the Legislators of Animal Advocacy Caucus and a member of the Environment and Public Health Committee, will not attend on ethical grounds and is urging fellow legislators to reject the invite.

Representative David Michel at a fur-free rally held in February at the Connecticut State Capitol.

“I will not be attending this reception which involves the killing of sentient life, messes with the balance of nature and the quality of our environment,” Representative Michel said in a statement sent to WAN. “I urge my good colleagues not to attend and support this unnecessary and cruel activity.”

At the start of this year’s legislative session, the Environment Committee failed to pass a bill to ban the sale, trade, and manufacture of animal fur, despite the passage of a similar ban in California last year, as well as the introduction and progress of similar bills in Rhode Island, Hawaii, Minneapolis, and New York City.

Fur bans and bills to promote the compassionate treatment of animals have notoriously been opposed by hunting groups.

Last year, Friends of CT Sportsmen helped kill off legislation that would have prohibited barbaric leghold and body-crushing traps in Connecticut. Their actions have ensured that wild animals and even companion animals continue to suffer horrific injuries and gruesome deaths.

“We hope that Connecticut legislators will follow the lead of Representative Michel by refusing to attend this spectacle of cruelty,” said Marilyn Kroplick M.D., President of In Defense of Animals. “I can think of nothing more perverse than using the taste of animal flesh to reward legislators for opposing humane treatment of Connecticut’s wild animals.”

Representative David Michel is a hero for taking a stance against the hunting and killing of sentient beings in a state where many others support the barbaric practice.

Connecticut residents that want to let their legislators know that they also find this event, along with hunting, deplorable, can find their Representatives HERE!

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